TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
June 02, 2021

6 Crucial Signs That It's Time to Redesign Your eCommerce Store

Changes are a natural part of every business venture. To say that the previous year brought a lot of them is an understatement, so let’s just conclude that unprecedented times demand evolution, especially in the eCommerce business.

Taming the initial economic chaos brings profit. Getting on top, however, requires an enhanced toolset and more often than not, an updated outlook.

What is the first thing that attracts visitors to your website? 

It’s design, of course, so stop beating around the bush and ask yourself: is my eCommerce store design engaging enough? 

If you’re not sure how to answer that question, it’s definitely time for a change. Whatever you may have heard, it’s never too late for an upgrade, as the most successful eCommerce stores go through constant changes.

Crafting a responsive custom web page design is a costly endeavor, but with the right team behind you, the sky is the limit!

More often than not, the usual design issues can be fixed fairly easily. It’s time to peek behind the curtain and see how.

1. No Conversions

Let’s face it; you wouldn’t be here if your conversion rate were high. It’s the first sign something went wrong. Despite substantial traffic on your store, conversions are lacking. Why is that?

In the short run, you may want to mitigate the symptoms by employing trusted PPC advertising companies to help with CRO (conversion rate optimization), but gaining your visitors’ trust is the key factor for positive change.



It’s estimated that there will be more than two billion global digital buyers in 2021. If an average visitor bounces off your website like off a trampoline, you’re not going to enjoy the fruits of these trends.

People need to know they can trust your online store. The best way to appeal to their subconscious fears is a new make-up, a redesign. Rebuilding your website is not just a new paint job, but improving the user experience (UX) and adding trust-related elements such as seals of excellence, client logos, ratings, reviews, etc.

Remember that your unique value proposition (UVP) and your goal are the best ambassadors you can have. If you believe in them, put them up front. 

Visitors seek transparency, clarity and efficiency. The more you work on those aspects, the more you’ll convert.

 

2. Slow Page Load Time

We can’t stress it enough – website load time is crucial! In fact, it’s one of the major SEO ranking factors. If you don’t consider ranking as something to strive for, have in mind that the single second of added page load speed can cause sales to drop a whopping 27%

If a website takes more than 3 seconds to load – it's a bad sign!

What’s more annoying than a lagging page? Neither you nor your audience has time to waste. If your website is slow, it’s less likely your visitors will continue exploring it. Therefore, it’s better to redesign your website. Mind you; less is more!

Many sites overdesign individual landing pages, which hinders page load speed even further. When designing to improve responsiveness, consider:

  • Minimizing features that increase your load time (animations and/or high-resolution images)
  • Removing unused media

You have a variety of tools to check the loading speed at your disposal. Personally, we recommend Google PageSpeed Insights, as it is easy to use and unmistakably points you in the right direction.

3. High Bounce Rate

The bounce rate ratio is a direct product of the previous pain point. But If your bounce rate is skyrocketing even after resolving load time, it’s time to consider major changes.

This can happen for two reasons. The first one occurs when your visitors don’t find what they’re searching for, and second – you fail to provide accurate information.

On average. you have only six seconds to provide your visitors’ desired result. Otherwise, they bounce. If your UVP doesn’t answer their needs, it’s time for course correction.

Make sure your eCommerce store meets your customers’ expectations, as well as providing a gratifying experience. Update your site content, your offer, add a search bar and strategically place your calls-to-action (CTAs) to streamline their on-site navigation.

4. Lack of Responsive Design

What is responsive web design?

It’s a design approach that ensures your website looks pristine across all devices. On a responsive website, the same content and page elements appear the same no matter what device you’re currently using. They are organized and sized to fit any screen size. 

It’s fairly simple; if an eCommerce store delivers a positive mobile user experience, conversions are sure to follow.

Even though mobile conversions are inferior to desktop, having a mobile-friendly design can cause a drastic influx of prospective, along with reassuring existing customers.

Customers generally don’t even consider scrolling down an unresponsive website, not to mention making a purchase.

Mobile conquers the eCommerce world as global “mCommerce” revenue is expected to reach $3.56 trillion by the end of 2021.

5. Tiresome Checkout Process

The checkout page is the last step, but it’s a hurdle on which many online businesses trip and crash spectacularly. It’s the magic portal where your visitor morphs into a customer – there's no room for clumsy missteps.

Visitors want a smooth experience during the checkout process. If they come to find lengthy forms and unexpected, additional prices/tax/shipping costs, they will immediately leave, never to return again.

Web forms are critical conversion points, so make them easy-to-use, as short as possible, professional and sleek looking.

If it asks for too much information, it raises unwanted suspicion, which means fewer submissions and, in turn, significantly fewer conversions.

Generally, clean, single-column forms with large fonts and few fields work in your favor. Keep things transparent to (re)gain your customers’ trust and allow guest checkout options to first-time visitors.

The freedom to buy without signing up can bump up your revenue significantly.

6. Social Media Engagement and Bad Reviews

Like a well-fitting glove on the hand, a well-executed social media strategy complements your eCommerce efforts. Although it’s not a web design element per se, it’s one of the main areas of advertisement and it needs constant attention.

If you’re not paying enough attention and share your offering properly, your online store will suffer despite the quality products/services. 

On the other hand, your site desperately needs a touch-up if the reviews are mostly negative. Before anyone makes a purchase, they read about past customer experiences. Having no reviews at all is also another sign you need to redesign your website.

Read through the problems your customers faced, resolve them and emphasize the positive ones prominently. By making changes, you make sure visitors know you consider their insights valuable.

Conclusion

Pay attention! Every red flag, every suspicious sign, every hiccup, no matter how small they might be at the moment, can turn into a hindrance instantly.

User experience is the key, eCommerce store requires redesign because your existing websites either fails to grab and maintain your audience’s attention or betrays their expectation.

Resolving all those mentioned above will boost your website performance and conversions accordingly. However, nothing stops you from performing A/B testing of your changes to get better insights into the overall performance and your average visitor mindset. 


» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles